Circular surgical retractor apparatus



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CIRCULAR SURGICAL RETRACTOR APPARATUS Filed Feb. 7, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

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' CIRCULAR SURGICAL RETRACTOR APPARATUS Filed Feb. 7, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,394,700 CIRCULAR SURGICAL RETRACTOR APPARATUS Hideo Yamamoto, 107 Kataecho S-chome Ikuno-ku, Osaka, Japan Filed Feb. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 525,404 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 24, 1965, 40/79,925 2 Claims. (Cl. 128-20) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A circular surgical retractor apparatus, comprising a ring plate, a plurality of clamps on said ring plate, each clamp having an upper and a lower arm, a connecting member extending between the arms, a protrusion on the lower arm spaced from the connecting member and terminating short of the upper arm a distance sufficient to allow the thickness of the ring plate to pass between the end of the protrusion and the upper arm. The distance the protrusion is spaced from the connecting member is sufiicient to allow said ring plate to pass freely therebetween a threaded member, threaded through the upper arm with a washer on the lower end thereof, is spaced from both the connecting member and the protrusion, whereby a surgical retractor having a fiat arm can be held between the pressing washer and the lower arm. The ring plate can be removed from the clamp by passing it between the protrusion and the upper arm.

The present invention relates to an apparatus to hold an incised part during a surgical operation, which has been developed as a means by which an operator can expand the incised part freely while keeping the border of the incised part stable, and which is characterized by placing a ring plate of appropriate size around the incised part, mounting a number of clamps loosely onto the ring plate, inserting various kinds of books into the clamps, .and thus enabling the operator to work while keeping the incised part open in a stable manner without help of his assistants.

Until now, operators have had to ask a number of assistants or nurses for their help to operate while keeping an incised part open with hooks. Those assistants have been indispensable, but sometimes they might possibly have disturbed the operators free movement.

For the purpose of improving such an unsatisfactory conventional method, there were developed two or three kinds of apparatus for laparotomy, which comprise a square or saddle-like frame and hooks. However, those apparatuses have disadvantages in that their structure is not suitable enough for an operator to use them as he likes and that they often become useless as some parts come ofl? while being used.

The present invention has as an object to overcome the abovementioned disadvantages of the conventional apparatus thoroughly and to develop an ideal apparatus which can be set on the human body easily and can be used at an operators discretion and which does not move or slide off at all against the operators will once it has been set.

The invention will now be described in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present invention in the same position it occupies when in use on the human body;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view in which the upper arm of the clamp has been omitted to show the direction of movement when the hook is inserted into the clamp and is firmly pressed by a screw and the direction of movement of the ring plate and the clamp when they are separated from each other;

FIGS. 3a-3d are enlarged perspective views showing some kinds of hooks which can be used in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 4a-4b are perspective views showing disassembled parts of the clamp; and

FIG. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view of the clamp.

A ring plate A is provided in the form of a flat beltlike circle so that it can be placed stably around an incised part, and its outer surface is in the form of a series of circular arcs 9. Clamp B to be mounted on the ring A comprises upper and lower arms 4 and 5, a connecting member which supports these arms and a protrusion 2 on the lower arm 5. The protrusion 2 is spaced from the connecting member 1 with the gap being wide enough for the ring A to move through it freely when the clamp B is mounted on the ring A, and it is also spaced from the upper arm 4 of the clamp B with the gap 3 being slightly wider than the thickness of the ring A.

The upper arm 4 has a threaded hole 6, into which a screw C is threaded. The screw C has a pressing washer 7 at its end and mounted thereon so that the pressing washer 7 never falls off and yet the end of the screw C never projects out of the pressing washer 7. The washer 7 is used to press a hook which is inserted into the clamp B mounted on the ring A. If occasion demands, several clamps B can be mounted on the ring A.

The kind of hook to be held by the clamp B is either a soft metal pot-hanger type D or a hard lever type B, both of which have no claw G on their trunk. On the other hand a soft metal pot-hanger type hook D" and a hard lever type hook F have claws respectively. These hooks are not held by the clamp B, but are applied to the ring A directly contacting the claw in the circular are 9. Thus, various kinds of hooks are used in combination in accordance with the condition of an incised part to be kept open.

The present apparatus with the abovementioned structure is used in the following way.

When the human body has been incised by an operator, the ring A is placed surrounding the incised part and the appropriately bent edge of the hook is hung on the incised part so as to expand the incised part to the extent necessary or to hold down the internal organs. Then, the trunk of the pot-hanger type hook D or the lever type hook E is inserted into the clamp B whichis loosely mounted on the ring A and the screw C is turned in and thus the hook is firmly fixed onto the ring A by the pressing washer 7 mounted loosely at the end of the screw C.

To explain the use of various kinds of hooks further in detail, the lever type hook E is set on the incised part as shown in FIG. 1 in order to expand the incised part appropriately and its trunk is inserted into the gap under the upper arm 4 of the clamp B as shown in FIG. 2, in such a 'way that it rests on the ring A which is inserted between the upper arm 4 and the lower arm 5 of the clamp B, and then, at a position as shown in FIG. 2, it is pressed down against the ring A by the pressing washer 7 of the screw C. Another lever type hook E or pot-hanger type hook D is set in the same way as above on the opposite side of the ring A from the place where the abovementioned lever type hook E is set. Thus, by using a number of hooks, it becomes possible to expand the incised part radially and keep it stable.

When using a hook with claws G like a lever type =hook F or a pot-hanger type hook D", it need not be held by the clamp B. Because, when the claw G is mounted on any one of the circular arcs 9 of the ring A, the bent edge of the hook is always pulled toward the center of the incised part and accordingly there is no fear that the hook will slip sideways or the claw G will come off the ring A. Similarly, when holding the trunk of the lever type hook E or the pot-hanger type hook D by the clamp B, the trunk is firmly pressed down by the pressing washer 7 of the screw C against the surface of the ring A which has been inserted between the upper and lower arms 4, 5 and between the connecting member 1 and the protrusion 2, and the force which pulls the lever type hook E or the pot-hanger type hook D toward the center of the incised part reaches the clamp B whereby the connecting member 1 of the clamp B engages firmly with one of the circular arcs 9 of the ring A preventing the hook from trembling or slipping. Thus, it is possible for an operator to expand the incised part evenly in every direction as much as he wants and to keep the expanded incision stable.

The pressing action of the screw C will now be explained.

The screw hole 6 is provided on the upper arm 4 of the clamp B in such a way that it is situated at the vertex of an almost equilateral triangle having the connecting member 1 and the protrusion 2 on the base thereof and its distance from the base is slightly larger than the width of the trunk of the lever type hook E or the pot-hanger type hook D. When the screw C is turned, the pressure of the pressing washer 7 is applied to the center or slightly to the right of the center of the trunk of the hook, and accordingly, the trunk of the hook when fixed at that lace or if pushed to the left, contacts the connecting member 1 and the protrusion 2 of the clamp B and is fixed there firmly. Therefore, even if the hook is a round lever type, it never slips off when pressed by the screw C.

Clamp B is removed from the ring A in the following way.

Screw C is turned so that the pressing washer 7 contacts the surface of the lower arm 5 of the clamp B while keeping the connecting member 1 of the clamp B engaged with one of the circular arcs 9 of the ring A as shown in FIG. 2. Then, either the clamp B or the ring A is moved in a direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing so as to make the internal surface of the ring A contact with the protrusion 2. The ring A passes under the upper arm 4 of the clamp B without being disturbed by the existence of the pressing washer 7 and passes through the gap 3 between the protrusion 2 and the upper arm 4 of the clamp B. Thus, the ring A and the clamp B can be easily separated from each other. On the other hand, the screw C is always turned back to some extent in order to facilitate the insertion of the hook and accordingly the pressing washer 7 mounted loosely on the edge of the screw C acts as a barrier to check the slipping off of the clamp B from the ring A. These actions and their effect are special features of the clamp of the present invention.

As has been described in the foregoing paragraphs, the apparatus of the present invention has a great advantage that an operator can do his work easily as he can expand an incised part freely and keep it stable by using various kinds of hooks in combination with a ring which has a series of circular arcs on its outer surface and with a number of clamps.

What I claim as my invention:

1. In a circular surgical retractor apparatus, the combination comprising a ring plate, a plurality of clamps on said ring plate, each clamp having an upper and a lower arm, a connecting member extending between the arms, a protrusion on the lower arm spaced from the connecting member and terminating directly beneath and short of the upper arm a distance sufficient to allow the thickness of the ring plate to pass between the end of the protrusion and the upper arm, the distance the protrusion is spaced from the connecting member being suflicient to allow said ring plate to pass freely therebetween, and a threaded member threaded through the upper arm with a washer on the lower end thereof, the threaded member being spaced from both the connecting member and the protrusion, whereby a surgical retractor having a fiat arm can be held between the pressing washer and the lower arm and the ring plate can be removed from the clamp by passing it between the protrusion and the upper arm.

2. A circular surgical retractor apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said ring plate has a plurality of contiguous concave circular recesses in the outer peripheral edge thereof extending all the way around said ring plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,892 9/1935 Lucas 128-20 2,383,705 8/1945 Bortagaray 12820 2,594,086 4/1952 Smith 12820 3,040,739 6/1962 Grieshaber 128-20 3,070,088 12/1962 Brahos 12820 3,227,156 1/1966 Gauthier 12820 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

K. L. HOWELL, Assistant Examiner. 

